Danish Crown has acquired pepperoni producer DK Foods as part of its strategy to become a leading pizza toppings manufacturer in Europe.

Upon completion, DK Foods will join Danish Crown’s subsidiary the Tulip Food Company, which manufactures pizza toppings, snacks and canned foods. However, DK Foods will operate as an independent unit. This purchase is expected to boost Tulip’s production capacity.

Danish Crown group CEO Jais Valeur said: “DK Foods presents an opportunity to intensify our group’s strategic focus on pizza toppings by becoming the market leader in pepperoni.

“The pizza market is growing globally, and we see considerable potential in DK Foods. We’ll be able to process a larger proportion of our own raw materials, thereby boosting our growth and earnings potential for the benefit of our owners – the Danish farmers.”

“We’ll be able to process a larger proportion of our own raw materials, thereby boosting our growth and earnings potential for the benefit of our owners – the Danish farmers.””

For several years, Danish Crown has served as DK Foods’ preferred supplier of raw materials.

In 2016, DK-Foods sold 70% of its stake to Maj Invest Equity, while the executive board members, Steffen Ramsgaard and Per Fischer Larsen retained the remaining stake. Following this acquisition, Danish Crown has purchased all the shares in DK Foods.

Larsen and Ramsgaard will retain their positions on the DK Foods board and report to Tulip’s CEO Kasper Lenbroch.

In a joint statement, they said: “Over the past 15 years, we have evolved from being a niche producer into a very significant market player, and as part of Danish Crown, we see new and great opportunities for continuing this positive growth.

“We’ll be strengthened through the upstream integration of raw materials, and given the group’s ambition of becoming a leading player in the wider toppings category, we’ll become an even stronger partner for both our current and future customers.”

Tulip manufactures pizza toppings such as pepperoni at its factory in Svenstrup.